The present invention relates to a lip gloss dispenser and applicator, primarily intended for tween or teenage girls, who purchase huge quantities and varieties of cosmetic products, including lip-related products. These high relative spending consumers are also the demographic category primarily interested in certain tween and teen idols or celebrities. For a teen or tween to apply a lip gloss related product, a highly desired application to her lips, and to do so easily, effectively and with emotional attachment (in effect the young girl is applying the lip gloss by “kissing” the lips of a movie star, television star, rock star, etc.) is a highly desired goal. If the lip gloss contains needed medication, this is one manner of presenting the applicator in a way which makes the “taking” of medicine highly tolerable, i.e., by kissing the lips of one to which the user has an emotional attachment. The actual lip gloss applicator's application surface is a simulation and/or an actual casting or mold of a celebrities or tween/teen idol's lips.
This invention will give these teenagers the appeal of kissing, while also allowing them to keep up with common fashion trends of applying lip gloss. If the lip gloss is a medication which can be administered orally by topical application to the lips, the present invention is highly effective to ensure application by the patient. Unlike an ordinary lip gloss container, the present invention comprises the use of an applicator, on one end of the container, shaped like a pair of actual lips. The shape of the set of lips will desirably be molded to resemble an actual human pair of lips, and more preferably, that of a tween/teen or other celebrity. Therefore, a user will not only get the function of applying a lip gloss, but also the sensation of “kissing” the lips of a teen/tween idol or celebrity.
The invention comprises a small container for holding the lip gloss within a collapsible bladder-like or envelope mechanism. The applicator end of the container which will come into contact with the user is a rubber or at least resilient (to simulate real lips, thus not hard and inflexible plastic) molded set of lips, textured and with look and resilient feel to resemble an actual set of lips. On the mechanical or other end of the container is a simple turning wheel or mechanism. This mechanism will move a plate upwardly when the turning wheel is rotated. That plate will cause the bladder, with lip gloss contained therein, to be squeezed out of the bladder, through a small tubing section, and into an aperture (corresponding to a small opening between the application lip surface) of the lips. The lip gloss will easily and conveniently spread over the surface of the lips and then the user can “kiss” the lips and transfer the lip gloss to her own lips. Preferably the lips of the device are provided with textured and very small channel passages which both serve to simulate real lips (which are not perfectly smooth) and to facilitate the spreading of the lip gloss to the surface of the applicator's lips.
The lip gloss or other material sought to be transferred from applicator and package to the lips of the user, is held, until use (and multiple usages are contemplated by a single bladder pre-filled with lip gloss) within the container. The reservoir resembles a small bladder or balloon which is pre-filled with the lip gloss and maintained therein until desirably used. The bladder is preferably located in close proximity to the bottom surface (which can be substantially flat) of the lip-shaped surfaces of the applicator, so that the lip gloss inside will not accidentally leak.
Beneath the reservoir, and also inside the container, is a movable elevator-lift planar surface, controlled by a simple knob and screw turning mechanism at the bottom of the container. As the knob is turned, the planar lift rides on the screw threads and the planar surface elevates towards the bottom end of the applicator's lip surface. The squeezing of the bladder between the planar surface of the lift and the bottom flat surface of the applicator's lip surface squeezed the lip gloss and causes a quantity to pass through a central hole of the applicator's lips. The small fissures of the applicator's lips and/or its surface configuration and the viscosity of the lip gloss cause the lip gloss exuded from the bladder to coat a significant surface area of the lips. The user can then press her lips on the applicator's lip surface and transfer the lip gloss to the user.
As the reservoir or bladder containing the lip gloss is constricted, some of the substance, proportional with the amount the lift is elevated (and thus proportional to the amount of rotation of the knob and movement of the planar surface up on the screw threads) and thus the force on the reservoir, is pushed through the small hole in the center of the surface of the applicator's lips. Accordingly, when the knob-like mechanism at the base of the container is rotated or turned, the planar lift rises and a small amount of lip gloss, the amount being directly proportional to the rotation by which the mechanism is turned, is pushed out of the bladder, through the hole of the lips and caused to be spread over the artificial surface, resembling lips of the applicator. A user can then “kiss” the lips of the container to apply or transfer the lip gloss to his or her own lips.
The artificial lip surface of the lip gloss applicator disclosed herein is slightly resilient, somewhat soft, and unlike a hard plastic surface. It is meant to simulate the firmness, look and feel of a human's lips. The artificial lips of this applicator are also desirably textured to resemble a human set of lips. In the primary embodiment, the lips are shaped to resemble those of a celebrity, giving the user the sense or illusion that they are embraced in a kiss with that celebrity while applying the lip gloss. The use of the present invention eliminates the necessity to use one's fingers to apply lip gloss to their lips and/or a cylindrical tube of lip gloss, even with a lip contouring surface, as provided by prior art lip gloss products. A user will manipulate the present invention to dispense the lip gloss through the hole in the artificial cast lips of the applicator and onto the surface thereof. The user will then apply or transfer the lip gloss by putting their lips in contact with the artificial cast lips of the applicator, thereby spreading and transferring the lip gloss by means of a “kiss.”
The reservoir or bladder enclosed inside the container, which holds the lip gloss, is sealed and located immediately beneath the bottom end of the artificial lips thereby forming a collapsible and squeezable membrane filled with the lip gloss substance. The only opening from that bladder is a small aligned hole or a short tube extending to and through a hole located in the center of the artificial applicator surface of the lips. This configuration prevents the lip gloss from accidentally leaking when the applicator is not being used, and allows the user to substantially precisely control the amount of lip gloss dispensed when the mechanism which controls the lift is turned, by rotating the know which causes the planar lift surface to glide up on the threads of the screw, attached to the turning knob. Rotation of the turning knob rotates the threads of the threaded central post and since the lift is secured to the threads and bound within the oval-shaped wall of the applicator's body, the planar lift will move upwardly (or downwardly) depending upon the rotational direction of the knob. This then, causes the bladder with its contents to be squeezed between the planar surface of the lift and the flat bottom of the artificial lips of the applicator.
The cover to the container of the present invention can also be shaped like a pair of lips, and directly fits over the shaped lips of the applicator. This cover serves to protect the surface of the artificial lip gloss applicating lips but the top surface thereof is purely aesthetic, as it serves no function for the invention, other than to display to a viewer the shape of the lips inside and to protect the artificial lip surface and the lip gloss from exposure.